Karnataka has reported another biggest single day spike of 25,795 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total caseload 12.47 lakh, the health department said on Thursday. 123 people in the state have died due to the disease in the same time period, pushing the overall death count to 13,885, it said.
Bengaluru Urban alone accounted for 15, 244 of the total number of cases. It has now overtaken Pune as the city with the highest number of active cases. While Bengaluru currently has 1, 37, 813 active cases, Pune has 1,17, 337.
The state had previously reported its biggest single day spike of 23,558 cases on Wednesday.
The Karnataka government has announced a total of Rs 571 crore for COVID-19 management in the state amid a spike in cases.
State's Revenue Minister R Ashoka said the money is immediately being released under his department's Disaster Response Fund.
The minister took a note of long queues at crematoriums in the city and said that a 4-acre land in Tavarekere in Bengaluru will be opened for cremations of those who died of Covid-19.
The state has also ordered one crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine at a cost of Rs 400 crore. This will be used for vaccination of people between the 18 to 44 age group.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa was discharged from a private hospital in Bengaluru where he was undergoing treatment for COVID-19 for the last six days. The 78-year-old leader was hospitalised on April 16, after he tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time in eight months.
The Karnataka government on Tuesday issued a new set of guidelines as per which night curfew will be imposed in the state from April 21 and curfew will be place during weekends, aimed at containing the transmission of the rapidly spreading virus.
All social, political, sports, entertainment, academic, cultural, religious gatherings, other gatherings and large congregations have been prohibited in the state.
